According to a new study published in the August 7 online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, drinking two cups of hot chocolate every day could help older people keep their brains healthy and thinking skills sharp.

The study involved 60 individuals with an average age of 73 who did not have dementia. Each participant drank two cups of hot chocolate per day for 30 days and did not consumer any other form of chocolate during that time. They were each given memory and thinking skills tests. Ultrasound tests to measure blood flow to the brain were also conducted.

“We’re learning more about blood flow in the brain and its effect on thinking skills,” said study author Farzaneh A. Sorond, MD, PhD, of Harvard Medical School in Boston and member of the American Academy of Neurology. “As different areas of the brain need more energy to complete their tasks, they also need greater blood flow. This relationship, called neurovascular coupling, may play an important role in diseases such as Alzheimer’s.”

Of the 60 total study participants, 18 had impaired blood flow when the study began. Those participants showed an 8.3 percent blood flow improvement to the working ares of the brain by the end of the study. No improvement was observed in participants that began the study with normal blood flow.

Those with improved blood flow also improved their times on working memory tests, with scores dropping from 167 seconds in the beginning of the study to 116 seconds at the end. No change in times were observed in the participants with normal blood flow.

Twenty four of the participants also had an MRI scan conducted to look for small areas of brain damage. The scans found that those with impaired blood flow were more likely to have these areas of brain damage.

Half of the study participants received hot chocolate that was rich in the antioxidant flavanol, while the other half received flavanol poor hot chocolate. There was no differences observed between these two groups.

“More work is needed to prove a link between cocoa, blood flow problems and cognitive decline,” said Paul B. Rosenberg, MD, of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study. “But this is an important first step that could guide future studies.”

The study was supported by the National Institute on Aging and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The hot chocolate was provided by Mars Inc.